


chalice

by Cân Cennau (gwenynnefydd)



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Angst, Book: Enigma Tales (Star Trek), Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Interrogation, Intersex Kelas Parmak, Leave them be, M/M, Missing Scene, Other, Spooks Are Not Allowed To Visit Kelas Parmak, let them rest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 09:55:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17764568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwenynnefydd/pseuds/C%C3%A2n%20Cennau
Summary: Kelas gets three unexpected visitors to their clinic. That is the least of Kelas' problems.Missing scene from Enigma Tales, where Alden, T'Rena and Pulaski try and get to Garak through Parmak.





	chalice

Kelas had expected the day to be like any other. A half-day at the clinic, checking out their patients for any sneeze or sniffle, then a little light paperwork before home, back to their husband and to their comforts. The clinic part had at least been completed, and Kelas now studiously went through minutes of the latest health committee meeting - the one he’d missed due to the dinner party he’d attended with Elim. It didn’t seem like they missed much - a discussion on improving xenobiomedicine training in certain colleges, a return to home-based medicine for some treatments, they’d personally advocated for  _ that _ one…

As they reached the end of the notes, their office phone suddenly rang, the shrill bleeping almost making Kelas jump out of their scales. Frowning a little, Kelas picked up the phone and answered.

“Doctor Parmak here.”

“Doctor,” came the reply, and Kelas recognised the voice as belonging to Suli, the trainee nurse currently manning the front desk. “My apologies for interrupting. I have a patient to see you.”

“A patient? I took my last patient hours ago.”

“I understand that, but they’re very insistent on seeing you. They said it was an emergency.”

“Have you put them through triage?”

“No, sir.” There was a slight apologetic tone to her voice. “They’re Federation natives. I haven’t had training yet on how to triage them…”

“No worries, Suli,” Kelas replied warmly. “Better safe than sorry. Send them in.”

It was less than five minutes before their Federation patients arrived, but Kelas couldn’t stop the very sudden shock of recognition that went through them when they stepped through the door.Doctor Alden was first, looking tired and weary, followed by the implaccable Ambassador T’Rena. Behind them was someone Kelas couldn’t identify, who still wore their dust mask, hiding their face.

“Ambassador, Doctor.” Kelas nodded to both of them, and then at the masked figure beside them. “And welcome to your friend too. What can I help you with?”

They looked between each other, and Kelas felt a tingling of suspicion. Finally, Ambassador T’Rena opted to speak.

“I’m afraid our problem is not really medical.” T’Rena said, with a slight air of apology. “It’s political.”

“It’s to do with my friend, Katherine.” Alden added. “Katherine Pulaski. You remember here?”

“I do.” How could they not? “The last time I heard, she was missing.”

“She is.” Alden shifted a little. “I think Garak knows where she is.”

Kelas blinked. “Elim? No, he couldn’t know. He’d have found her by now.”

“I thought that too. Except T’Rena and I went to see him about it, and the way he reacted… he  _ handled  _ us, doctor.”

_ As he would with people he doesn’t like _ , Kelas thought ruefully. “My apologies, but I don’t know how I can help. What does this have to do with me?”

“You’re closer to him than anyone.  _ You  _ can speak to him, get him to talk.”

“But I don’t believe he  _ does  _ know anything.” That was technically a lie, but their own personal thoughts on the matter were  _ private _ . “I’m going to need something more solid to go on.”

T’Rena and Alden looked at each other again, before T’Rena nodded almost imperceptibly at the masked figure beside them. Kelas watched with some curiosity as the figure unwound the many layers of dust-mesh from their lower face, and removed the goggles . As the figure shook out her hair from the dust-hood, Kelas finally realised exactly who they were looking at.

“No…”

“Yep.” Pulaski gave him a small smile. “Hello again, Doctor Parmak.”

Kelas’ breath left them in one fell swoop. 

“I…” they stammered. “How…?”

“I escaped.” Pulaski said simply. “And from what I saw when I was captured, I’m certain the castellan is involved.”

“How?”

“I was held with Elima Antok - who was unfortunately not lucky enough to escape with me.” Pulaski shifted a little. “Elima was working on sensitive research to do with the Obsidian Order.” 

“The experiments on Bajoran children.”

“Mmm. The ones signed by Natima Lang. The problem is, it looks an awful lot like a cover up. A frame job.”

“And Garak is the missing link between them.” Alden leant forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “Garak doesn’t want Natima to be head of the U of U, and the documents are a perfect way to discredit her. But he also doesn’t want anyone looking too deep into his past, so he kidnaps Elima.”

“He also doesn’t want anyone to be challenging him on the ‘casts.” Pulaski wryly indicated to herself. “Hence, kidnap me too.”

“Looking at the bigger picture, Castellan Garak is the only one to benefit from this… situation.” T’Rena finished. “If he’s gone back to his old ways…”

“We  _ hope  _ he hasn’t gone back to his old ways.” Alden corrected. “I’m certain you’re hoping that to, given what happened to you... before.”

Kelas’ mind was spinning, and they turned away to get themselves a glass of water. They wanted their theory to be false, so  _ very  _ false, but they could not deny that right now, Elim wasn’t telling them anything, and the shock of seeing Pulaski had tilted their normal rational world view. As they sipped the cold water with shaking hands, they mentally shook himself.  _ Deep breaths,  _ they told themself,  _ Think about this rationally. _

Pulaski felt it was perhaps Garak who was at fault, but their theory was shaky at best, on second thought. It only worked if you believed Elim was returning to the ways of the Order, but he  _ wasn’t.  _ He  _ couldn’t  _ be. Elim had worked so hard for that not to happen, and Kelas had been there every step of the way. Kelas would not have married him had they had any suspicion of where Elim’s loyalties lied. But the fear that he would go back, as Alden said, to what happened to Kelas before...

A cold thought lodged itself in their throat as they suddenly realised what was happening. 

_ They knew. They approached you to try and use your trauma as leverage. _

Fury bubbled up inside them. How  _ dare  _ he...

"What have you got on him, Doctor Alden?" Kelas turned on him, barely holding onto their temper. "How well do you know Elim Garak?"

Alden blinked, clearly aware he'd pushed too far. "I- we have our intelligence-"

"Intelligence?" A laugh. "You have an hour at a party, and a handful of ghost stories."

"We know he was Obsidian Order." Pulaski interjected. "Who knows if he's starting it up again-"

"He is not. I know he's not."

"How?" Alden was quieter now, almost gentle. "You can't prove that."

"I don't need to." Kelas took a deep breath, and exhaled the residual anger, now just feeling tired. "I trust Elim Garak. He is not the man you are looking for." 

"You will not help us find Elima Antok, then?" Unlike her friend, Pulaski had not quietened. "Elima is trapped out there- Garak knows where she is-" 

"I have known Garak for almost three decades now." Kelas tried not to let their exhaustion seep into their voice. "If Elim knew where Elima was, she'd be freed by now." 

"You can't be blind to the political benefits Garak incurs due to Elima's disappearance." T’Rena spoke, quietly.

"You think Elim would do this for politics?" Kelas shook their head. "No. He wouldn't. He is not that kind of person-" 

"Doctor Parmak-" 

"I said no." Kelas gripped the edge of the table. "Doctors, Ambassador, I'm afraid I need you to leave my office. Now." 

Pulaski looked as if she wanted to argue more, but T’Rena held up a stilling hand. 

"My apologies, Doctor Parmak." she murmured. "We only thought you might be the best person to apporoach the Castellan about Elima." 

"No, you didn't." Kelas looked at them both. "You know my history. You know what the Order did to me. You saw me as a victim - you thought you could manipulate my fears." 

Alden and T’Rena were stone-faced, but Pulaski's flinch showed they were bang on the money. 

"I- we didn't-" 

"I didn't survive that camp by being frightened, Doctors. My survival was hard-won, through compassion and a shitton of therapy." They began organizing the papers on their desk. "I helped Elim through his survival too. His hand print is on every reconstructed building in the city - but it is not on the disappearance of Elima Antok." 

“But-”

“But  _ nothing _ . It is not his doing.” Kelas turned back to their papers, clearly dismissing them. Although they weren’t watching, they could sense Alden shift from one foot to the other, the small group clearly unwilling to let the fight go but not quite knowing how to approach it again.

“Look - will you just talk to him?” Pulaski finally snapped. “Maybe he isn’t trying to resurrect the Order. But he knows  _ something _ . He has to. You’ve seen him.”

Kelas had suspected that Elim knew something, but he wasn’t about to admit it to the motley crew in front of him. “I won’t. It’s not my place - and Ambassador, you  _ know _ it’s not my place.”

T’Rena’s face was blank, but Kelas knew she was wincing from the diplomatic faux pas. “I think we’re done here.” she murmured, tugging a little on Alden’s elbow. “We won’t get anything here. Let’s leave Doctor Parmak to their work.”

With a dark look between them, Pulaski and Alden trouped out of the office. The door snapped shut behind them, and with shaking hands Kelas locked it, alighting the BREAK sign above the door. As soon as it was secure, Kelas immediately fell to the ground, curling up and covering their face, hiding the distorted expression of worry and grief. Somewhere in the back of their mind, Kelas knew they’d be in pain when they tried to get up, but right now the energy had been sapped from them. They tried to take in deep breaths, but it was hard to do so when their mind was running overdrive, and their body was trying and failing not to cry.  _ Not again, please not again…  _

They wanted to both see Elim and be held by them, be comforted, but they also wanted to run far away, away from Elim and their shared trauma. What if Pulaski’s theory was true? What if it wasn’t? Their thoughts ran in never-ending circles, each biting painfully at the sides of their head, and oh  _ stars  _ this was too much for one person. Shaking, sobbing, Kelas fished out their comm from their pocket, and texted for a skimmer. They had to ask Elim. They had to see Elim, to make sure, to be  _ certain... _

_ Oh Elim, love,  _ Kelas thought frantically.  _ What have you done? _


End file.
